Blogging the life of a little girl with a rare chromosome 2q24.3q32.1 deletion
In September, Brian casually plopped down on the couch next to me. It was a really stressful season for us. Brian started. "Hey. I just wanted to get your permission before I bought this thing." Over our 15+ years of marriage, we've always "asked permission" from the other before we buy a large ticket item.... Continue Reading →
Brian and I have spent 16 Christmases together and I can’t remember a single one where we gave one another gifts. I’m also pretty certain we’ve had a home with no tree more often than we’ve had one. You see, I love the concept of Christmas — being close to your loved ones during the... Continue Reading →
One of the things I was strangely looking forward to in parenthood was our future child stealing food off of my plate. Then when we got Eloise’s diagnosis and saw many kids on feeding tubes, we realized it might not ever happen. Then when we discovered Eloise had severe food intolerances at the beginning of... Continue Reading →
“Do you think it’s all the people who have been praying? Because this almost happened right after you put up that post.” - Brian
I keep thinking, “Right. Today is going to be better than yesterday.” Then it isn’t. To give you a bit of context of “normal” seizures for Eloise: Worst seizure control time (pre correct meds): December 2021 — 51 seizures Best seizure control time: May-July 2022 — 1 seizure total August — 12 seizures September (she... Continue Reading →
Man it’s been a rough season around here. The good news, I hope, is that it’s just a season. I had planned to write about our shorter-than-expected long Tartu hospital stay. But that plan got derailed yesterday when seizures started. But let’s give you a little background. A few weeks ago (after that weekend of... Continue Reading →
July was our first month where both Brian and I were back at work. It was also a big month for so many other reasons. It was the month we took our first big family trip (a work-cation to the southern Estonian city of Tartu)the month Eloise developed some strange movements that took us to... Continue Reading →
I grew up with dogs, but always thought of myself as more of a cat person. Brian is more extreme. He’s told almost everyone we know for as long as I’ve known him that he doesn’t like dogs. Eloise, unlike her parents, doesn’t discriminate — she seems to like all furry animals.
While training to be a counselor, a friend once said he learned never to assume you know what emotion someone has about an event. "Maybe a woman just lost her long time husband and you think, 'Gosh, I'm sorry, that must have been tough.' But you never know. Maybe he was a violent alcoholic and so her reaction was actually, 'Thank God he's gone. I'm finally free!'" So when you watch this video of Eloise, do you feel pity? Excitement? Or maybe even anger and frustration?
Back in December, when seizures were still new to us, I remember a phone call I had with our doctor in Tallinn at the time. "How's Eloise's seizures?" "Well, she's having anywhere between 5-8 per day." "Okay. Well, contact me if it gets worse." I remember feeling stunned. But, Tartu? "I want you to contact me every time Eloise has a seizure." "Wait. Every time? I'll be writing you a lot." "Yes, every time. I don't mind." And that interaction basically sums up how different the care feels in Tartu versus Tallinn.
Almost exactly one year ago, on Good Friday, I finally announced Eloise's birth to the world. It was a teary letter. It seems fitting to re-visit that post a year later because, though we're in a quite different place now than we were then, it is still so prophetic in many ways.
I feel like this video sums up the spirit of Eloise's week well. Eat food? Nope. 🤔 Eat bath book? YES!!!! 😃 Sigh. Teething babies.🤷🏾♀️
It's so easy for the current reality of Ukraine's destruction to quickly fade from thoughts. The world moves on. And though we are determined to be as present and as joy-filled as we can for this precious girl of ours, lives are still being lost every day in Ukraine. So we still look for ways... Continue Reading →
This kid takes forever to grow a new tooth -- does anyone else have a kid who takes a month to grow one? But when we got such incredibly great news this week, it's hard to really complain.
We returned last night from our planned Tartu inpatient hospital stay. So. 👏 Much. 👏 Good. 👏 News. 👏 There's no way to easily explain it all in an instagram story or a tiny facebook post, so blogpost here we go!
Between Eloise's tooth still coming in and her practicing all kinds of new skills, we have been so encouraged this week. Yet like most parents, we've still been pretty worn out by all of her crying and not sleeping. Thankfully, though, her fussy period shouldn't last much longer. At least we hope. 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾
1 new tooth, 1 stuffy nose, 1 pair of shoes, 1 scheduled hospital visit, 1 struggling-to-nap baby, 8 appointments, and 10 days of no seizures = a set of exhausted yet hopeful parents.
Overall, really, this has just been a fantastic week. We don't get to say that often, so I'll savor this time while it lasts.
Eloise The Tiny Fighter 